ANT-MAN (review)

Review by Clay N Ferno

Paul Rudd and Michael Douglas star in Marvel’s latest big screen endeavor as Ant-Man.

That is to say that Douglas (as original comic book Avenger Hank Pym) passes the suit on to the younger criminal Scott Lang. Through a series of welcome flashbacks, cameos and ant-eye-view training montages we are given the history of Pym Particles, the mystery of The Wasp’s death and some jokes.

Lost’s Evangeline Lilly stars as Dr. Pym’s daugher Hope van Dyne and plays double insider agent opposite House of Cards actor Corey Stoll as Darren Cross / Yellowjacket. Cross was Pym’s protege and has since taken over Pym’s business.

Other notable cast members are rising stars Michael Peña (The Lincoln Lawyer, Fury, Gracepoint), Bobby Cannavale (Spy, Chef, Boardwalk Empire) alongside actors T.I. — Clifford Joseph Harris, Jr. — and Judy Greer (Married, Arrested Development), who both seem to be having fresh chapters open in their careers.

Ant-Man by design is a more modest movie than Avengers: Age of Ultron or last year’s blockbusters Guardians of the Galaxy and , but it stands as a half rest beat before bringing out the repulsor rays again.

Without the added benefit of a rating system for reviews here, what you might expect to hear is unbridled enthusiasm for all superhero movies, like I have dolled out in the recent past to Guardians of the Galaxy and X-Men: Days of Future Past. How is it even possible that the current rate of release of comic book movies is like Lucy in the candy factory? I almost want to tell them to stop — but the truffles are so good.

I hasten to use any negative or slapdash excuses like ‘burnout’, nor do I intend to pan this movie. In fact, that would be the easy way out. I enjoyed Ant-Man though not as much as Marvel properties I watched on the big screen in 2014.

I didn’t expect much, except by having the knowledge that there were production differences at the start and Peyton Reed (The Break Up) would take over Edgar Wright’s directorial roll. While Adam McKay (Funny or Die) and Rudd re-wrote the screenplay, What I did expect were more funny jokes from the team.

The funniest lines are delivered by ex-con Luis (Peña) who has a surprising sophisticated social life outside of his burgling. Rudd and Douglas have a fun ex-con and old guy mentor banter that doesn’t get old, but I would have killed for some Step Brothers comedy sprinkled through this one. There simply are no ‘There’s So Much Room For Activities’ takeaway quotes from Ant-Man.

What we do get are some great moments, like Douglas’ Pym taking his tech away from a 1989 S.H.I.E.L.D. and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell). It’s also a delight to see an aged Howard Stark played by John Slattery (Mad Men) reprising his roll from Iron Man 2. You never knew you wanted to see Gordon Gekko face off against Roger Sterling, but I’m sure both would attest that “Greed is good”!

Badman Corey Stoll chews the scenery a bit as Cross and it’s easy to typecast him in this movie as his Peter from House of Cards. With power suits and his determination to get everything shrunk down, you can only imagine his nights at home offscreen are filled with polishing off bottles.

They don’t play the predictable male female relationship between Hope van Dyne and her boss. In fact, they play the employee/employer relationship pretty straight (leaving room for Rudd to possibly woo the leading lady). No need for a triangle or workplace harassment in this film, and characters like Hope van Dyne and Claire Dearing in Jurassic World place women at the head of big companies without a thought. Here’s to hoping these cinematic CEOs are getting equal pay!

It should be noted, as was the case with the Marvel Comics version of Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Black Widow and Peter Quill, this Ant-Man and the Pym family is restructured and the origin is not what comic fans consider canon. Whereas Hank is an early Avenger, Douglas’ Pym is a rival of Howard Stark and is in no rush to team up with Tony.

Other versions and costumes that Hank Pym was known to don are curiously absent or given to other characters. The Yellowjacket suit is worn by Darren Cross in the movie. As far as Avenger Janet Van Dyne aka The Wasp, you’ll have to see for yourself.

We are lucky to live in an age of great CGI and macro photography, so that Scott Lang barely had to be worried about being crushed by an actual giant Ajax can a la The Incredible Shrinking Woman, though he does have a similar run-in with a drain. We learn that Pym Particles decrease the space between atoms, but the person in the suit is super-strong and super-dense.

Some key ‘shrinking’ scenes involve “Anthony” the flying ant (Falcon reference?), Scott falling onto a record spinning EDM as he holds on to a groove in the vinyl (therefore making record skip) and Scott training with other ants at his smaller size.

We never seem to think Scott won’t recover from being small or that it takes him an hour to walk across a room at ant-size but that is because he can use other ants as his transportation.

The Pyms control ant colonies telepathically and eventually teach Lang the all important skill.

What is undeniably great fun in the movie is the seemless integration from the macro to the micro to the right size and back again. You can see in the trailer the Thomas the Train engine ‘train fight’ (my favorite cinematic trope) how hilarious it is to see a toy train derailed. When you zoom in, the explosions are as real and risky as the fight scenes in Age of Ultron.

Undoubtedly, seeing this movie in 3D on the biggest screen possible will be a better experience for you if you are able than waiting for a rental. Kids will love this movie as much as I was enthralled by the aforementioned Lily Tomlin movie. Shrinking would be a really cool power, almost as good as flight (because you are practically invisible).

There are Marvel Easter Eggs and Tales to Astonish in the movie as well as what I would count as three separate post-story scenes? Is that right? Yes, three in total. But it’s not like you Marvel Zombies are headed out of the theatre when you see credits roll. You’ve been trained!

Ant-Man doesn’t suck, it might not be the picnic basket of bombast you expect from a Marvel blockbuster, but it is a salty and sugary snack that will really satisfy until we get the next main course.